Ok,
In a nutshell
Im doing grade two piano in july, and i will be starting my Music GCSE work in september, to take my GCSE's in april-ish 2010. But i then want to go on to music As and A level (maybe music tech also)
so i have two things really

• Is it possible do you think?
• Will it be hard?
• Should i do both? or just Music/Music Tech?
• I cant count because i thought that was two things.

Incase your wondering about speed of learning or whatever you want to call it.
I did my grade one last year, after 6months and then took a break for about 3 months before starting lessons with a new teacher (stopped after exam in early july, began again about the start of december. Again i really cant count lol) and have been having lessons since december (not including school holidays etc) and im now ready to take grade 2.

Thanks
HC

If you're prepared to practise lots and work hard (which it seems you are!) then I think it's perfectly resonable to think that'd you'd do fine at GCSE certainly, and probably A-level too by the time you get there. At GCSE I'm pretty sure you need to be able to play at grade 2 standard to not be 'undermarked' in the performance part of the exam (this is true for EDEXEL at least), so you'd be fine with that. And AS is grade 5 I think, and A2 grade 6, so you'd probably be that standard by then.

And just so you can see that it is possible, I started GCSE music without having any piano grades (I'd begun piano lessons about 4 months prior to starting the course) and have now worked up to grade 5/6 level in 18months, and am getting top marks in performance - so there's no reason why you couldn't do that too!!

So yes it's possible...and, I can't say I've found the GCSE course hard. It's not been easy, but it's not been hard either, if you get what I mean. I think for GCSE at least, you can do fairly well so long as you put the effort in, and if you enjoy music, then that'll probably come naturally!! (at least it did for me! ) I don't know yet about the A-level course (although many people say it is very hard), but I think that's more the theory and listening side of things that is the real tricky bit. And if you've progressed as quickly as you have with your piano so far, then I think you'd probably be at the right level for A-level when the time comes.

And as for the music/music tech part of your question, I can't answer that as I don't know anything about music tech!!

Hope that helped

Laura

Music Tech would probably be an easy A for you at leaast at AS level if you're already doing Music AS. Promise! It gets a little more complicated at A2 but nothing you couldn't keep on top of. To be honest, I really don't hold the qualification in high regard and certainly see it as my "fourth" A-Level.

However, I really really enjoyed doing it and that's what it should be about.

im quite good at theory, so i dont really think thats a problem, i just need to take exams in theory

(we did one in class, so we would know what it would be like if we did it for GCSE)

It's still quite early to be making up your mind, so I wouldn't really worry yet.

Edexcel require grade 3 as standard, not grade 2, but you'll easily be that by the end of year 11.

It's perfectly possible though - when I started GCSE music I had a grade 1 violin. Now for A2 all my pieces are above the standard difficulty level, and none of them are on violin!

Music tech does involve a lot of coursework though in the case for edexcel they are changing the syllabus

It's quite early to be deciding so don't stress yet about it.

I have found Music A Level hard and stressful (but well worth it and extremely rewarding). The 20 minute recital I did this year was very hard work but I loved it It depends how you find the GCSE composition as to how you find parts of the A Level and how good you are at listening as well as some straight learning!!!

I would say, see how you get on at GCSE and don't make any decisions now. If you can play 4 grade 5 pieces well for AS and then at A2 have a large range of grade 6 standard repertoire the practical side would be OK for you.

There is a huge difference between GCSE and A Level music though as GCSE is more historical with some practical and A Level requires more listening and specific analytical skills. I hope this helps and doesn't scare you!

Hi Hello Cello,

I have taken music GCSE and am now studying both music and music tech this year for AS and plan to continue to A2.

If you have any musical ability/understanding (which you appear to) then I suggest that music tech will be a simple A level for you. The listening paper somewhat resembles GCSE music with some music tech jargon added in. You could very easily mistake it for a GCSE paper. However, as I think someone mentioned there is a lot of coursework. Having said that it shouldn't be too taxing an A level for you and an easy A?.. The details of the course are changing for next year and it is likely you will have to do all of the coursework in school time with little help and under supervision (as i'm sure you are aware is happening with most subjects). I would make sure you have a conversation with the teacher about it as they may even be able to give you some stuff you can start looking at (e.g. there are a lot of music tech programs/software which you may need to familiarise yourself with).

As for music gcse my boyfriend who is a drummer (a good one) but has little to no musical knowledge outside that got a B. He did no work for two years, just a little bit at the end. I would have thought you will easily be at an adequate performing standard by the end of year 11 as mentioned so I would suggest that you go for it if you would want to.


Hope that helps.